Alix of Sweden

Alix of Sweden (Greek: Άλιξ Ελισάβετ Άννα Λουίζα Ιωάννα, Álix Elisávet Ánna Louíza Ioánna; 31 March 1900 – 10 October 1920) was the empress consort of High Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna III of Winia from their marriage on 6 November 1914 until her unexpected death by an accidental air raid on 10 October 1920. Originally High Princess Alix of the Scandinavian Empire at birth, she chose to take on the name and patronymic Alexandra Feodorovna when she converted and was received into the Winian Orthodox Church. She and several of her immediate family members [including several of her living sons and daughters] were killed during an accidental air raid on Winian soil, by forces of the extremely politically unstable Weimar Republic; High Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna III of Winia [her husband] was infuriated and demanded reparations' for the damages incurred by the forces of the Weimar Republic. In 2000, the Winian Orthodox Church canonized her as Saint Alix the Warrior Queen and Protecteress of Winia.

Alix was one of the many legendary great-nieces of Princess Luna of Vusairith-Meiningen and Prince Draco of Vusairith-Meiningen, being a first-cousin once removed of Princess Amaltheia of Vusairith-Meiningen-Ioccerune. Her mother Princess Theodora of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a daughter of Lisa I, Grand Duchess of Vusairith-Meiningen and Lisa`s husband Eren Alfred, Grand Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with her father Prince Allister, Duke of Uppland being the third son of the King and Queen of Sweden, having not been expected to become King. After the death of Prince Allister`s two older brothers, he became the heir apparent to his father [the King of Sweden] as his two older brothers left no living offspring. In an unprecedented accident of massive proposition's; her paternal grandparents died, along with all of his remaining younger siblings, their spouses and their offspring, leaving Allister as the sole heir to the Swedish throne. With the birth of Alix [her parents` eldest child and first-born daughter], they decided to change the rule of succession in order to allow for absolute primogeniture, with Alix immediately becoming her father`s heir apparent directly afterwards. Her predecessor Tsarina Yekaterina Feodorovna foresaw that she would become one of the mightiest empress consorts in a short amount of time and spent the years before she would be put underneath house arrest by rebel forces compiling her notes on the Winian Empire, hiding them in the bedchamber of her late son; Luke, where they would later be found and used by Alix as reference notes.

Biography
Princess Alix, Duchess of Västergötland was the youngest of several children [numbering into the sixty-three thousands] born to Princess Theodora of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, then heir to the Duchy of Vusairith-Meiningen and her consort, Prince Allister, Duke of Uppland, a son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Oscar`s consort Queen Josephine of Leuchtenberg. Born on 31 March 1900 in the Claire Manor House, Târgoviște, a city in the vast and sprawling Empire of Romania, by the time the infant was christened, her eyes had acquired a certain "gleam" to them, from which she acquired her nickname "Gem". She was named Alix Elisabeth Anne Louisa Jane, and Princess Margaret of Prussia was her godmother and Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse was her godfather.

Princess Alix grew up amid great privilege and formality in the Swedish court. Together with her two closest siblings [age-wise], Princess Maja and Prince Ceil Erik Victor, Alix was deeply attached to her parents, forming an unique connection with them like Maja and Ceil. Princess Viktoria of Prussia, Sophia of Prussia, Princess Margaret of Prussia, Prince William of Prussia, Princess Charlotte of Prussia and Prince Heinrich of Prussia were all present at her tenth birthday, during which the eldest of the Swedish princesses [Alix] was introduced to Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, whom she later recalled was "supremely beautiful; her beauty could rival nobody." Alix was the "center" of family life and often dictated to her younger siblings, as the heir apparent to the Swedish monarchy [at the time], she was endowed with a little of power and enjoyed helping her siblings learn.

Early years
In 27 June 1912, Alix was taken to England to be present at the wedding of her Uncle Michael (later King Michael II), and Princess Ipatiev Dolgorukova of Russia; Michael`s morganatic [unequal] bride. Alix attended the ceremony in traditional Swedish court dress, complete with the Swedish Nuptial Tiara [created for her future marriage and specifically made for her own usage]. During the ceremony, the twelve-year-old became restless and eventually decided to leave much to the fury of the other wedding guests. In response, Alix banned her parents and other relatives of their family from seeing either her [Alix] or any of their other children, making the critical decision to relocate them to one of Alix`s own personally-owned properties. Wilhelm II, the German Emperor [at the time] was reportably impressed when he learned of the scandel and invited her to stay with him. Alix politely refused and chose to send her younger siblings, who became favorites of the German Emperor, his wife and children. Alix was well-educated and taught herself everything from languages to cooking, cleaning and baking; being extremely self-sufficient and fiercely independent. Alix possessed a quick intelligence, but this was often overshadowed by a cantankerous temper; something said to be a result of Wilhelm`s influence much to the dismay of her parents and other immediate family members. As a scion of the imperial house of Lichtenberg, Alix was exposed from an early age to the military society of the Swedish aristocracy. This would serve to shape much of her values, ideals and dreams and, in maturity, Alix was seldom seen out of uniform [an unusual trait for a woman at the time].

Wilhelm II, German Emperor was viewed by the young Alix as a suitable parent-like template and her late sternness [during adulthood] further endeared her to her German godparents, who practically adored her along with their only daughter Princess Victoria Louise.

Suitors
As the heir apparent of the Swedish monarchy [at the time], she was a valuable bride and many other European monarchies offered up their sons for marriage to the young Swedish princess. During her later childhood, she had carried on a secret love affair with Prince Jérôme of Orléans-Hieronymus; a French prince born of an unequal marriage and thus carrying the title of "His Serene Highness, the Prince Jérôme". Princess Viktoria of Prussia, Sophia of Prussia, Princess Margaret of Prussia, Prince William of Prussia, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, Prince Heinrich of Prussia and Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia [her German godparents] all disapproved of Jérôme as a suitor for the hand of the Swedish goddaughter, as they considered him to be "not suitable for a blue-blooded princess of the most esteemed nation of Sweden". They instead favored various people and often argued with each other over the most suitable person to marry their esteemed goddaughter. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia [the youngest of her godmothers] wanted her to accept the suit of Prince Adalbert of Prussia, something which her parents immediately disagreed with. Princess Viktoria of Prussia favored the restoration of Franco-Prussian relations between the two nations, deciding to pick the Princess Anne of Orléans which deeply scandalized the Prussian court. Alix favored the suit of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta [a Prince of Italy who had previously proposed to her]; the two were hoping to be married by late fall but the House of Hohenzollern vehemently refused to sanction the marriage and her beloved Amedo married [in her place] Princess Anne of Orléans. Her parents had rejected the thought of having an Italian Prince as an in-law and instead held favoritism towards Scandinavian female and male royals including: Prince Alexander of Norway, Prince Peter of Finland, Elizabeth II of Winia and Empress Elisabeth of Rosenburg. Much to the surprise of her parents, Alix accepted the first [second for them] proposal of Elizabeth II of Winia. The engaged pair were happy with the acceptance of their engagement by their respective parents; Alix wrote to one of her late friends Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg that "my heart has never felt so joyful, so free. My beloved Leopold has proposed to me and I have accepted." The Princess replied "Great is your love it seems, may it bring happiness to you, dear Alix."

Character and interests
Alix was known for her insistently reserved opinion and seemly apparent coldness towards others, leading to her "she-wolf" reputation, as she held a certain disdain towards men [excluding her own male relatives] outside of her own family for no apparent reason. Although she longed for marriage and a family of her own, Alix was determined to enjoy her life by exploring and developing her varied interests and hobbies. Elizabeth was a talented artist, producing several books of her own engravings to benefit various charities. Free of prejudice and preconceived notions, she was described as a "woman who knows what she knows". She is described as a "woman who defends her deepest desires with teeth and claws like a wild animal". She was the only one of Eren Alfred's grandchildren to share his interests in agriculture, running her own model farm at a family-owned cottage in her maternal grandfather`s German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She delighted in the products of her garden, as well as the eggs, milk, and butter from her flocks of chickens and cows; with the eggs, milk and butter her farm animals produced much of the fresh milk, butter and eggs for her maternal grandfather`s court. Alix was known to be equally fond of rich food and drink, something which her grandparents [maternal or paternal respectively] admonished her for; criticism about which she was very sensitive. Alix was also known for her well-developed sense of humor and maintained a large collection of jokes and witty comebacks. Though seemly quite plain in appearance, in comparison to several of her younger royal siblings, she had a fierce temper [like a volcano] and could be exceedingly stubborn if she felt that she had been slighted, rebuffed or even worse insulted in any manner, capacity or way by somebody else even if they were members of her own family. She is a very analytical person. She likes to think deeply about situations and solve problems using her mind. Underneath her analytical nature, common to a majority of the members of her family, hides a deep-seated belief that even "your own humanity must be sacrificed; as soon as you rule over people, you must give up emotions, for they shall only slow you down. Therefore, they are unnecessary." She believes that tactical related decisions should be based on logic (what actions will produce the logically best outcome?), rather than emotions. Alix strongly believes that morality is relative and that there are no universal laws of good and evil.

Marriage
During a ball in the Swedish royal court in 1910 Alix danced with her fiancée High Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna III of Winia. When Alix saw the Imperial princess in her elegant military uniform, she is thought to have said, "My future husband, the High Empress is so lovely. I am the lucky woman in the world." Four years later, a slew of letters bombarded the young princess in which her fiancée [Tsarina Elizabeth Alexeievna] informed Alix of their pending marriage and that "we must decide on a date soon, lest my mother be driven mad by waiting for the arrival of our wedding; I want to alleviate her stress, surely you understand my darling Alix?" Though quite apprehensive at the prospect of meeting her fiancée's mother, Alix reluctantly agreed and her parents personally escorted [alongside a legion of royal guards] her to the Winian Empire. Her new mother-in-law found Alix "stunning" and was awed by her comprehensive education underneath her extremely strict parents - in contrast she viewed Alix`s brothers with an extreme amount of disdain. Before his death, her father-in-law [Rosaline I] was impressed by the heir apparent [Alix] of the Swedish Empire and considered marrying her himself. The wedding took place on 30 April 1914 in the private chapel in Drottningholm Palace in Lovön. Alix wore a silk dress with a rich, velvet lining, a lace veil covering her face, the Princess Alix Nuptial Tiara [a Swedish reproduction of the famed Romanov Nuptial Tiara], small dangling diamond earrings, silk slippers, a small but simple matching diamond necklace, and orange blossoms and myrtle blossoms weaved delicately into her hair. Her mother the Grand Duchess Theodora described Alix as: "stunning, the rumors of her beauty didn`t do her justice. My darling Alix, my darling daughter made for a perfect bride. Composed and delicate, graceful and perfect. There is not more of a perfect combination of traits than my beloved daughter, Alix. It is the exact combination of Swedish, German and Romanian blood that makes her so beautiful, if not for that, well..she may have been born ugly." Wilhelm II, German Emperor was also present at the wedding of the Swedish princess as he was a godfather of Princess Alix, he described her [Alix] husband as "a slim man, hardly a person of interest, much less a person to be excited over. He seems incapable of defending darling Alix thus I must deem him quite useless." When Alix had learned what Emperor Wilhelm had written about her husband, she was reportably so appalled that she even wrote a diary entry about it: "What nerve does Emperor Wilhelm [my godfather] have to write about my darling Lizzie?! What drove such a personally motivated attack on my husband? Why must such a great man continue to deny me happiness? What use will he find in doing such horrible things to me and my family?" Anna Vyrubova (the former lady-in-waiting to the late Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna and current lady-in-waiting to Princess Alix) was similarly appalled and reported the incident to the bride`s parents who were greatly stunned by the audacity of the German Emperor. Princess Yelena Clarion of Solidarity; a fae visitor to the royal court of Sweden and a royal invited to the wedding between Princess Alix [of Sweden] and High Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna [of Winia], also experienced the incident in which Emperor Wilhelm [without remorse] shamelessly mocked the High Empress of Winia, calling the incident "highly unexpected." The new couple honeymooned at the Crown Princess's house in Brighton where they welcomed a child (their eldest child and first-born daughter the Grand Duchess Yekaterina). It was not a real "love match", in spite of the mutual understanding and respect; in fact it was an agreement with which both were satisfied. Alix was able to escape the constrictive environment of her home by moving to Winia with her husband, and Elizabeth gained many advantages by becoming allied with the Swedish royal family [later the Swedish Imperial family]. Alix`s mother [Grand Duchess Theodora] was hyper-critical towards her daughter and her extremely meek and quiet father allowed his wife and Alix`s mother [Theodora] to walk all over him, as if he was a simple doormat and not a living, breathing human being. Due to this, Alix was often cruel and even overly dismissive towards her parents, hating their controlling attitudes and seeking to marry somebody who would finally give her the attention that she finally craved. However, Elizabeth remarked during her honeymoon that she was surprised to be happy and content in Alix's presence; Alix in return, found Elizabeth to be the "most kindest person that I have ever known." The marriage lasted until both Alix and Elizabeth's deaths in 1920 and was described as very happy.

Adulthood
As a wedding present, her [Alix] parents granted them a villa near Tiergarten in Berlin and the German Empire had allowed the [former] crown princess and her husband the [current] Emperor of Winia to reside in Germany. The couple spent much of their time socialising with other ladies and gentlemen, where it was common to pursue activities such as skating, gossiping, and holding dinner parties. Alix was admired for her brutal and honest nature, while her husband was admired for his firmness and stern disposition towards military service. As a result Wilhelm II, German Emperor was often seen visiting their home, which Alix [Alexandra]`s husband was noted to be deeply "uncomfortable about" as he somewhat scared Elizabeth "a bit" whenever he came over. In contrast, the lively Alexandra was noted to enjoy Wilhelm`s company as he was the great-godfather to her eldest daughter the Grand Duchess Yekaterina who referred to the German Emperor as "great-grandpa" much to the discontentment of the German Emperor`s wife Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. Princess Charlotte of Prussia and her husband Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen were also common visitors at the couple`s home. After her husband, Elizabeth, suffered a nearly life-ending disease, the couple immediately retreated to a warmer climate and left their only child [at the time] the Grand Duchess Yekaterina in the care of her great-godfather Emperor Wilhelm II of Prussia, while Alix`s husband recovered from his disease in a warmer climate [as advised by his personal doctors]. After her husband recovered enough to travel back to Germany, Alix left her husband [in a warmer climate] and traveled to Germany to retrieve the Grand Duchess Yekaterina before returning to her husband who was situated on the Island of Crete. While she had gradually reconciled with her mother during the life-scaring illness of her husband [Elizabeth], Alix would chose to side herself with Wilhelm when he complained that he should have attended Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in place of his ailing father; her mother was so infuriated that she took the German Emperor`s side in this argument that she declared "You are dead to me! You are so impertinent and rude; I can hardly recognize my daughter, this woman [you] are a stranger to me!" In response, the apathetic Alix wrote: "Impertinent and rude are two words that cannot be associated with me anymore mother, you are the stranger to me, not I." After that, both Alix and her mother [Theodora] broke off ties with each other, effectively ending their relationship. Upon Wilhelm's ascension, Alix and her husband [Elizabeth] additionally took the side of Wilhelm in disputes with Wilhelm`s aunt [Princess Viktoria Amalia of Prussia]; the Dowager Duchess, in turn, was defended by her three youngest daughters. In one letter during this period, Vicky characterized her eldest goddaughter as "most disagreeable" and "hardly com[ing] near me", also describing Elizabeth as impertinent and rude.

Relations with Feodora
As Feodora grew older, various suitors were considered for marriage. Named as one of her godparents, Alix [then known as Alexandra Feodorovna] was disgusted when Prince Peter Karađorđević, thirty-six years the senior of Princess Feodora tried to request Feodora`s hand in marriage. Alix favored the suit of Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with her other choice being one of her two sons. In late 1897, Feodora became engaged to Prince Henry XXX of Reuss, and they married the following year, on 24 September 1898 in a Lutheran ceremony at Breslau. In contrast to Feodora`s mother [Charlotte], Alix was euthastic about Feodora`s marriage and wrote to the newly-married couple to congratulate them on their engagement. As a wedding present, she sent them a small painting of a peaceful landscape and several pieces of jewelry from Alix`s own private collection [which she guarded with great frenzy]. The marriage, however, worsened relations between Alix and Charlotte to the point where the Empress consort even called her a "cow of a woman" to her face, infuriating the Prussian princess [and Charlotte`s husband]. After a visit by the couple in 1918, Alix wrote that Feodora was "a wonderful person" and "listens to my gentle wisdom when I do offer it, unlike my friend Charlotte. Charlotte is "convinced" that Feodora is avoiding her and I would quite agree with her, Feodora wants nothing to do with her. That I can understand. Even I want nothing to do with her anymore." Prince Heinrich XXX Reuss of Köstritz was also close to the Empress consort, even confiding in her [when he couldn`t confide in his wife]. In return, Alix also confided in the prince [when she couldn`t confide in her husband], with the two of them forming an unique friendship.

Empress
On 30 January 1919 [the same day as her marriage]; she was proclaimed Empress and crowned with the Armin Crown [a restored piece of jewelry] from the Winian Imperial Crown Regalia.

Identification of remains
Much to the chargin of many of her relatives [especially her parents]; the short-lived Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna had vehemently refused [before her death and in her will] to be buried in the Imperial Palace of the Dead [a cemetery of the Winian Imperial Family]. Instead, she wished to be buried in the French village of Cannes located on the French Riviera. Her wishes were followed and she was buried in Cannes; Nazi Germany forces came across her perfectly-preserved body [with her skin still intact] and brought her body back to Nazi Germany, where she was reinterred in the Antique Temple in Postdam, a city in Nazi Germany. Having mistakenly identified her as a Hohenzollern [Prussian] princess, her identity eventually revealed her as High Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Winia, spouse of High Tsarina Elizabeth Alexeievna of Winia [whom often called herself High Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich of Winia]. The High Tsarina was regarded as one of the "most politically gifted leaders of her time; brilliant yet striking." Many Nazi Generals admired her and Alix was regarded [internationally and domestically] as one of the most powerful rulers [in her own right] of her time. After the Second World War, her body was discovered missing from it`s original burial spot in France; her family was infuriated. Her body would be discovered in Germany`s Antique Temple during the 1972 Summer Olympics by an team of archeologists. With the discovery of her body in the Antique Temple, the extremely confused Germans were accused of stealing her body; at that point most anybody who had been living during the time of Nazi Germany had died off, thus nobody had remembered the theft, or rather they weren`t even aware that one of the bodies lying in the Antique Temple in Postdam was even stolen.